Special to WorldTribune.com

The United States is planning more “freedom of navigation” missions in the South China Sea, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said.

“We will fly, sail and operate wherever international law permits,” Carter told a congressional hearing earlier this week.

The USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, sailed near one of China’s artificial islands in Spratlys on Oct. 27 which resulted in harsh Chinese rhetoric as well as maritime monitoring activity.

A spokesman for the U.S. Navy said the operations were meant to “protect the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all nations under international law.”

Beijing’s navy chief, Adm. Wu Shengli, said that “if the United States continues with these kinds of dangerous, provocative acts, there could well be a seriously pressing situation between frontline forces from both sides on the sea and in the air, or even a minor incident that sparks war.”

Experts say Washington launched the USS Lassen mission in the hopes that Beijing would step back from its island building campaign.

China, which claims most of the South China Sea as its territory, has said its buildup on the artificial islands is for mainly civilian purposes. But the U.S. and other countries with claims in the South China Sea have noted that Beijing has constructed runways capable of supporting fighter jets and transport planes on the islands.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have claims in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in yearly ship-borne trade passes.

The South China Sea is expected to be a major topic on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming visits to Vietnam and Singapore, and at a meeting of Southeast Asian defense ministers in Malaysia that both Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan and the U.S.’s Carter are due to attend.

Meanwhile, China on Oct. 29 suffered a setback when an arbitration court in the Netherlands ruled it had jurisdiction to hear some South China Sea territorial claims the Philippines has filed against Beijing.

The court slated more hearings to decide the merits of the Philippines’ arguments. China has not participated in the hearings and has said it does not recognize the court’s authority in the case.

  Adm. Wu Shengli, Ashton Carter, U.S. says freedom of navigation in S. China Sea is its right, USS Lassen, WorldTribune.com